iTunes could not back up iphone because the backup could not be saved...

If your C:\ does not have enough space to extract the backup file, then you will get the error during the "unzip" process. You can use a program like WinDirStat to explore your C:\ to find where your large files are and move/backup/delete them. It should work after that.

All the previous solutions happen to clear your hard drive of space. The larger the backup is, the more you need to backup.

Mine happened on a brand new computer with 1 Terrabyte drive with nothing but a few programs on it.

Funny thing is that computer crapped out within 2 weeks and I got a replacement.

Didn't get the same error at all.. didn't have to run as admin.

I also have NOT installed System Mechanic this time... I wonder about that program sometimes... I got it for an old computer that was sluggish instead of rebuilding it.. don't know why i put it on a new computer.

Turn OFF iCloud Backup to Backup on This Compuer in the summary of your device. THis worked for me. Thanks!

I found that there was a corrupted photo file that prevented the system from backing up. I accessed the storage on the iPhone 4S and copied all the photos into an external storage drive. I then deleted all photos from the iPhone. I just backed up with no problem. Apparently, Apple will not allow a corrupted file to be copied to the Mac for security reasons, I guess.

Well done budsimrin, deleting manually the /Users/me/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/* folders did the trick (for iPad and iPhone). Took me sooo muuuuch time to fix this.

However, it was a bit strange. Using Terminal I

cd /Users/me/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

rm -rf ad41... 98abc...

but got plenty of error messages "Permission denied".

Strange as all files belong to 'me', and have all at least 'rwx' for 'me'...

Not the first time some weird permissions / owner are set by system(?), well second time actually.

On Lion.

ring_0 is right in deleting (or possibly moving) the defective backup files. I made hidden files visible with the following command from the terminal.

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool true

killal Finder

I then navigated to the same place ring_0 went to but by using the finder window instead of the terminal.

/Users/me/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup

I deleted all the directories in the Backup folder where I was then aked to enter my admin password. I backed up my iphone without a problem.

To hide files again just run the same two commands in terminal after the backup has completed but with a false value.

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool false

killal Finder

Hope this helpes.

Hi Sarloh,

Like you, I have followed all tips and guides possible and tried many other things more. I have tried on a brand new Mac and Windows installations and arrived to the conclusion that there is something wrong with the iPad / iOS side, not the iTunes PC/Mac side. Possible corrupt files on the iPad. That is why I got interested in your solution.

However, I have two questions:

1. Apparently your solution is about a completely different thing, the ability to read the iPad. How this relate to the backup issue?

2. I can't find the ITunesDB file to be deleted, only the iTunesCDB. I am using latest iOS 6.01. Is there an alternative for this solution?

I ahve no backup. I deleted them all as they were old anyways. I am months trying to backup it either trhought PC/MAC or iCloud and never been able to.

Hello.

I'm going to give you my full story but you can skip it, the solution is at the end.

Well, it's been a long time since my problems so I don't think I'll remember every detail. So I what you have stated in 1. and let me explain; when iOS 5 came out it was my first software update, I wasn't sure what to expect, I red that some people had problems with their devices and I decided that I should make a backup before updating. And then the first problem appeared. I think it's the one in the name of this topic... So I don't remember what I did then but I do remember that the next error message was something like: iTunes cannot read the contents of the iPad and then I started a new post. So some time passed and I found a way in a You Tube video. Some time passed again (or not, I'm not sure) and I did it since it was my last solution, or I had nothing to lose or something, but the main thing is that I did it and it worked. Both of my problems went away, I haven't lost any data, so it fixed the whole thing so I made a backup and put on iOS 5 without any issues. In my second thread somebody asked me if I could post the link to the you tube video, so I did but now it doesn't work.

But after my post with the link somebody else posted with a similar solution than mine, since I have fixed it I think it was a misunderstanding, but for your luck he does talk about things similar to the ones in your post so I'll give you a link to it.

http:///discussions.apple.com/message/17023223#17023223#17023223

Good luck!

I NEED MAJOR HELP ON THIS ALSO, AND MY COMPUTER HAS VERY LOW MEMORY , and I get the same error code

Just thought I'd chime in on how I encountered this error.

A long time ago I moved ~/Library/iTunes to a 2tb external hard drive to free up space on my MacBook. I also moved ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync to that drive. To trick iTunes into looking there I made symbolic links to both directories. A couple days ago I changed the name of the external drive; while I remembered the first symbolic link, it took me at least a half hour to realize I was using a symbolic link to MobileSync too. As far as iTunes was concerned the MobileSync folder simply did not exist, and it does not recreate the directory or files and start a new backup either.

I doubt many of you had the exact same problem as me, but the idea is similar. Somewhere along the line you either moved the folders from their original original place, deleted them, or possibly set incredibly strict file permissions on them.

I tried all that was said here and nothing worked.

This is was SOLVED IT for me:

My issue was related to iMatch. I had a few songs on my iPad that couldn't be played nor deleted.

I deselected iMatch on the configuration on my iPad, waited until it synched, and then deleted all other songs yet on my library. After all cleaned up, accessing the Music app would give the message "no songs...".

Then I re-selected iMatch and waited for it to sync again. A few minutes later, to my surprise, there were all the very same songs with problems. They showed up as download and once again, they couldn't be deleted nor played. This was cleary a iMatch bug!

I went to my Mac and opened iTunes. I located those few songs that wouldn't play or couldn't be deleted in the iPad on my iTunes Master library. I notice that their Cloud icon had an exclamation mark on. I simply copied them to another folder (just select and move it to your desktop or folder), then I asked to delete it each one of them both from my library as well as iMatch. To do this you have to select the option "hide from iMatch" or something like it.

As I was doing it, I could see them synching and disapearing from my iPad at the same time. Finally I got rid of them!

As result, I could also finally backup my iPad.

I am still working on getting thses songs backs to my list, I will either rip again from my CDs or just move them back from the folder I initially saved them.

Hope that helps!

I fixed the same issue after syncing ALL photos to my mac - an error popped up saying that one photo (e.g. image_123.jpg) could not be transferred because the file format was wrong, even through it was a jpg and I could open that photo on my iPhone. So basically, the file was corrupted preventing my iPhone from syncing.

I've tried all sorts of other complicated procedures from different formus so I was very positively surprised that it was all so easy to fix at the end.

Hope my comment helps others too!

For OSX, this is what I did when I had the issue with a brand new iPhone 5:

- Disconnect device

- Open iTunes -> Preferences -> Delete all the backups

- Hook up the iPhone

- UNCHECK syncing with whatever troublesome media (or just all - music, video etc) i.e. uncheck 'Sync Music'

- Run sync and let it go ahead and delete all the media from the device.

- Once sync is finished, go into iTunes again and CHECK 'Manually manage Music and Videos'

- Select 'Sync Music' once again. Review your selections/playlists etc.

- Run sync again.

It seems to be some sort of problem in the file systems, I have no idea where. Sometimes a failed or cancelled sync will 'orphan' files and cause these problems. The best solution I have found (and I had similar problems with photos on my iPad) is to go ahead and uncheck these to remove them from the device completely, check they get cleaned out then go re-select everything for a clean sync.

Hope this helps someone!

i went into my computer<app date<roaming<apple computer<mobilesync and my computer has my backup files from 5-2013. but itunes last file says 2011. i lost my iphone 5 and want to update my 4s to the files from 5-2013. how can i retrieve the files from my computer to my itunes?? thank you

After reading a number of solutions and failed, I have come up with my own solution. I believe there could be many different causes for this problem (such as insufficient harddrive space), but here is what worked for me:

MacBook Pro 10.8.5

Iphone 5

"Cannot be saved on this computer" error

1st Step:

Locate the 'backup' folder. Address is: 'Mactintosh HD'/users/"your user name"/library/application support/mobile sync/backup

If you still cannot find it, google iphone backup folder and find it.

Copy all folders inside to somewhere as a 'backup'.

2nd Step:

Delete all folders inside the 'backup' folder.

My Mac asks me for an admin password, type it in and hit entre.

Now this folder should be 'writable' for your itunes.

3rd Step:

Hit backup bottom on itunes, and a new folder will be created in the 'Backup' folder, which means it worked!

4th Step:

Undo step 1, move all your previous folders back to the 'backup' folder.

Last words:

The problem seem to be an automatic lockdown in many of our folders. Itunes cannot write into the folder unless we give the password to unlock it first. This is quite annoying sometimes. If I am correct, you do not have to do step 1 and 4, simply do some actions in the 'backup' folder and make the machine ask for your password.

Hope it helps.